Klarinet Archive - Posting 000661.txt from 2002/11

From: Wayne P Hill <thanos563@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Ebay (was:Odd brands.)
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:58:09 -0500

Most of the time what you will encounter is someone who is selling an
instrument from their parent's estate or something of the like (that's
where my two horns came from) so the seller may know very little about
the instrument itself. You need to make sure to ask the correct, and
also , VERY specific questions about the instrument in ways a
non-clarinetist would understand. Something else I ave found can help
gain an insite into the quality of instrument would be to ask about the
playing background of the previous owner...not neessarily the
seller...but try to get a history of the instrument. If it was owned by
Joe's great-grandfather who played in the London Symphony it might be
worth buying even though they seller cannot give you TOO much
information. When all is said and done though it is "Caveat Emptor" but
sometimes the price is so good that you actually don't mind getting a
lemon (and then you have a nice lamp base).

Wayne

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